The race for Connecticut's Senate seat was not supposed to be in doubt.

Incumbent Christopher Dodd for decades routed token opponents as he won term after term. But after a series of missteps, some his own doing, others out of his hands, he announced his retirement early this year.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has long been considered the state's Democratic senator-in-waiting. Blumenthal was there the day Dodd retired to announce his own candidacy, and his name recognition and huge approval ratings made him the overwhelming favorite.

But an opponent willing to spend tens of millions of dollars can change matters.

Republican Linda McMahon, a political novice, has poured her personal fortune into the contest, dispatching with ease the national party's handpicked candidate, former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons. She has from the beginning aimed directly at Blumenthal's sterling reputation, tarring him a serial exaggerator and enemy of the business community. And her money has turned a foregone conclusion into a potential toss-up.

Some things, though, money can't change.

It can't change Blumenthal's 19-year record, which is one of consistently standing up for consumers and workers. It can't change his accomplishments. And, just as importantly, it can't change McMahon's utter lack of a coherent rationale for her own race.

For those reasons and others, Richard Blumenthal earns the Connecticut Post's endorsement to be the next U.S. senator from Connecticut.

Blumenthal supports ideas that work. McMahon promotes vague notions of policies that put the economy into the mess it now faces, and for the most part offers nothing but personal attacks.

A word about Vietnam -- the most effective line of attack from the McMahon campaign, one that made this race competitive, has been Blumenthal's own statements about his war-time record.

But context matters, and this is where the distinction falls between a "lie," which Blumenthal's opponents accuse him of committing, and a "misstatement," as he insists is the more accurate term.

Blumenthal is on the record, over and over, year after year, speaking to veterans' groups and others, saying he did not serve in Vietnam. If it were his intention to mislead people into thinking he had been in combat, there is no way to explain why he stated publicly, time after time, long before this controversy broke, that he did not. Because he is on the record speaking the truth so many times, the few occasions that he did not are clear aberrations.

It's not a matter to take lightly. But it is also not grounds to disqualify him from consideration.

Absent that issue, there's simply no contest. Blumenthal has dedicated his career to public service. He has taken necessary action when others would not, such as when he filed suit against out-of-state power plants whose emissions were polluting Connecticut skies.

Though he's protected workers and consumers, the fact is that Connecticut is viewed as a place that is generally hostile to business. The state consistently ranks in the depths of lists of states that are business-friendly. Blumenthal says he has gone after some rule-bending businesses to preserve a level playing field for those that adhere to the laws.

We'll accept that. But as it pertains to Connecticut, we expect Senator Blumenthal to recognize that job creation -- a function best executed by small businesses -- is his No. 1 priority.

Finally, the history of WWE, its links with steroid and drug use by its wrestlers, the violence and misogyny and untimely deaths, take considerable luster off the McMahon candidacy.